Ideas discussed at last month’s International Astronomical Union symposium in Tokyo include projects using smartphones and low-cost battery-powered equipment.

Friday – December 13 – comes exactly 13 weeks after the year’s first Friday the 13th in September. Zoinks! By the way, a fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia.

Should we ever adopt the International Fixed Calendar, we’d have 13 months in a year, with each month containing a Friday the 13th. Friggatriskaidekaphobia – aka fear of Friday the 13th – would be rampant! Or not. Read more about this calendar system here.

Researchers collected DNA samples from 104 Labrador retrievers over a 16-year period. They compared changes in their DNA samples against DNA previously collected from humans. The result? A better sense of what a “dog year” really means.

Want to avoid politics at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner? Amaze your companions with your knowledge of why different cuts of turkey have different characteristics.

Fun facts about this floating fruit, the blueberry’s bitter cousin.

Happy birthday November babies!  Your birthstone, the topaz, can be blue, pale green, yellow, pink, red, purple, brown and even black.

This is the weekend we “fall back” here in the U.S. Are you glad? Sad? Mad? Advocates say daylight time saves energy and wins wars. Studies show injuries and illnesses rise when clocks change.